OK I know posting on this story is erratic, but that's my life at the moment. I got on a roll with the last chapter and decided to post this as soon as it was finished. Does that make up for making you wait? Just please don't expect another chapter tomorrow cos it ain't coming!
Chapter Eight
Juliana sat on the edge of the bed and watched the slow, rhythmic rise and fall of the blanket. The small body tucked underneath it had slipped into a deep sleep some hours ago and hadn't stirred since. Most people move and turn throughout their sleep cycle, but Micah hadn't so much as moved an inch.
"The sleep of the dead," she thought.
Or just the chronically exhausted.
Nick came back through the door to her quarters and she turned to raise a finger to her lips. It probably wasn't necessary to worry about waking Micah, but it was more of a reflex response.
"How is he?" Nick whispered.
"Been asleep for a couple of hours now. I couldn't get him to eat though."
"Here." Nick reached out to hand over a small pile of damp clothes. "I managed to get them through the laundry, but didn't want to leave them for the dryer. Too hard to explain a kid's clothes in this place."
Julianna just nodded and began to drape the clothes across the back of seats.
"Someone already asked about the blood and I said you had a nosebleed and I just grabbed the nearest thing to stop it. Just in case anyone asks," he trailed off.
Julianna sat down and reached out to smooth Micah's hair. "OK." She already knew the answer since he would have told her but she couldn't keep from asking anyway. "Any news?"
He just shook his head and each of them could see the same thoughts reflected on the other's face.
"Where could he have gone? And why wouldn't he have stayed to let us get him some help?"
Nick shook his head in frustration. "I dunno, but I'll be sure to ask him when I see him next."
"If you see him." Julianna desperately wanted to undo that thought, but it had run through her head before she could cut it off. The truth was, she had helped Micah get cleaned up and had seen for herself just how much blood was on his shirt. So how much more was on Lucas? And just how much blood could a person afford to lose before it was too much?
Nick found himself pacing the length of the room without realising he was doing it. Juliana watched him walk for a few moments before standing up to stop him.
"What do we do now?"
"Well, Bridger said Lucas was trying to hide Micah, so I guess we keep him hidden. I've pulled a few favours to get our shifts covered so one of us can stay here with him at all times."
"Have you told Security?"
"No, but I think the less people who know about this, the better." He turned towards her computer and began to log in. "I've set up a security scan to alert us to all incoming traffic so we'll need to monitor that from here."
Julianna nodded and watched as the information began to flow across the screen. As much as she relied on computers for so much of her life, it didn't seem to be enough this time.
Lucas lifted his head and stared at the blackness in front of him. Something had violently jolted him awake, but he couldn't register what it was. Slowly his senses began to awaken and he realised he was facing a sheer wall of rock. As he looked closer he could see that it wasn't as solid as he first thought and it had fissures running through it. Without anyone at the controls the vessel was at the mercy of the currents and this one had managed to slam it into a rock face.
Lucas tried to maneuver the Stinger out of the rock ledge it had become wedged on, but the controls wouldn't respond. The engine was built for speed, not power and the small craft would not dislodge itself. As he tried again, Lucas found himself getting increasingly agitated. It had been important for him to get back to Hope Colony as quickly as possible but now he couldn't remember why. There was just a deep sense of dread that he was running out of time.
The engine whined with the strain of the overload, but the Stinger refused to move. It shook slightly as the force of the effort rippled through its skin. However it had become stuck, it wasn't going anywhere, anytime soon.
Lucas slammed his hand against the console and dropped the engine power back to a throttle. No use blowing the engine to add to his problems.
It was well past his shift change, but Tim still sat at his station with his headphones on. He had refused to allow anybody to take over from him as long as there was a chance Lucas would hear his radio hails.
Commander Ford stood at the far end of the bridge and watched as his lieutenant strained for any whisper of a radio signal. Miguel had set the sensors as far as possible before leaving to head over to the colony, but it apparently wasn't enough.
The various shuttle crews that had been sent out to search the area between Hope Colony and Node 3 hadn't found any sign of the Stinger yet and every one of them reported radio silence as well.
"We need to expand the search area."
"Sir?" Tim pulled the headphones down to check what had been said.
Ford realised he had spoken his thought aloud and turned to pull up further navigation maps. "I said, we need to expand the search area."
"Get me through to Commander Hitchcock." His fingers were tracing lines over the sea floor trying to guess where one tiny submersible might be.
"Sir, Commander Hitchcock is on the line."
Ford straightened up. "Katie."
"I'm here."
"You've covered all the places where Lucas should be and he isn't there. Time to start looking in the places where he could be. I'm going to send you some new calculations and I want you to spread your team out further."
"Understood. Do you have any particular ideas?"
"You mean guesses?"
"Well those too, but your gut instincts are usually pretty good."
Ford rubbed a hand over his mouth before continuing. "Well there isn't much in the way of civilisation out here so we were only guessing in the first place that he was heading back to the colony."
"What are you thinking?"
"Could he have been heading for the seaQuest? I mean, he knew that when we left Hope Colony we were heading to the South China Sea."
Katie stared at the radio before answering. "You know he couldn't have made it that far!"
"I know that and so would he, but if that's where he thought we were, don't you think it makes sense he would have tried to get to us? I mean we were out of radio range for the Stinger, but Lucas is resourceful enough to have tried."
Katie shook her head as Ford's logic began to sink in. Lucas was obviously injured and being pursued, but something just didn't add up. "He took Micah to the Node to protect him, but why wouldn't he have stayed there and gotten some help for himself? It just doesn't make sense, Jonathan."
"Nothing about this makes any sense." Ford grabbed hold of the railing and squeezed it with all his strength. She was right about that part, but he also knew he could be right about Lucas trying to get back to the seaQuest. If he thought they were out of radio range there was no reason for him to try calling them. Unfortunately, that didn't explain why he wasn't answering their hails now.
"OK, so we really only have two options here. Either he was heading back to the colony or he was looking for the seaQuest." He glanced up towards Lieutenant Blacker who was sitting monitoring the WSKRs.
"Lieutenant we need a course plotted of how Lucas may have been trying to get from Node 3 to the South China Sea."
"Aye, Sir." Blacker swung out of his seat and headed towards the charts. The soft backlight glowed a faint green and he zoomed out to give himself a greater area to check. Direction was easy. Factoring in the ocean currents was a whole other matter. Seasonal currents were fairly steady so using today's readings were accurate enough for what he needed. At least he hoped it was.
"C'mon, Lucas. Give us some idea where you are." Ford shook his head slightly and glanced up to see O'Neill watching him. He had his headset slung around his neck and he quickly moved to pull it back up.
Blacker began to mark off a possible course and Ford relayed the co-ordinates through to the waiting shuttle crews.
"Katie, I don't like doing this, but I think we need to split the search. Keep half the teams on the present search pattern and send the other half to follow up this course. We've got the WSKRs stretched to the limit, but until we can get the seaQuest out of here, that's the best we can do."
"Understood. Hitchcock out."
Ford leaned down to study the map co-ordinates again. Until he knew what was happening on the colony the seaQuest was staying put. His captain had just walked into a potential hornet's nest, but having the submarine parked on their doorstep should hopefully keep the hornets from stinging.
As a man of action, the most frustrating thing that Ford could be asked to do was wait.
Wait for Bridger.
Wait for a call from Lucas.
Wait for a murderer to be identified.
Just wait.
Lucas pushed the record button on the console and began to speak again. "Um … … yeah, Micah's with Wolfman. Had to take him somewhere safe… … … found his father's body … … couldn't stop him."
Lucas squeezed his eyes shut as though he could block out the horrible image that flooded his mind.
"Samuel … he was … uh … … I was out with Micah in his room. Checkin' on his … um … heard this noise … …"
Before he could stop himself Lucas felt his body beginning to heave. If there had been anything left in his stomach it would have quickly come up. Instead, he cringed against the pain as his stomach threatened another revolt.
"Oh, God, that hurts!" he whimpered. Finally the pain began to ease a little and he leaned back in the seat.
"Somebody … … they shot Samuel … in the head and Micah … he … I couldn't stop him. I had to … he … he couldn't stay there … not with a dead body … … … get out."
Lucas rubbed a hand across his face only to find it was glistening with sweat. He had given up on trying to dislodge the Stinger since it was clear it wasn't going to budge. Instead he had decided to start a log for whoever eventually found him. The problem was, the information he needed to put in it was rolling out of his memory in bits and pieces. He knew he was forgetting something important.
"Had to get out … … somebody sent guards after us. Still don't know why but … … Nick … …"
Lucas held his breath as another thought dropped into his memory.
"Samuel … he ah … he … … asked to check seismic readings … … something was off … … weird … … um kinda … … kinda just … … all clustered … … Daniel got … … stick to my job … … don't like that guy … …"
The effort of speaking, on top of straining to remember, was taking its toll. The words being recorded were becoming fainter and huskier.
"Inventory! … … checked supply records … … weird stuff to bring in … … asked Samuel … … didn't know but … … checked records … … all erased … … gotta find them … gotta … … before … … before he … … all in danger … … "
The last words trailed off as Lucas slumped back against the seat. The log continued to record by itself but there was nothing more to be heard than labored breathing.